U.N. experience should prove helpful as U.S. ambassador to Iraq

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- In announcing his intent to appoint John Negroponte, currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, President Bush has tapped one of America's most experienced and senior diplomats to head what will be a unique assignment in American foreign relations.
 
Commenting on his nomination, Negroponte said April 19 that he is "honored by this opportunity to further serve President Bush and our nation in what promises to be an extremely challenging assignment."
 
"If confirmed, I expect the focus of our efforts to be on supporting a free and stable Iraq, at peace with its neighbors," the ambassador said in a statement released by the U.S. mission to the United Nations.
 
"Collaboration with the international community, especially the United Nations will be a very important part of this endeavor. I believe my work with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi since 2001, as well as other colleagues at the United Nations, has been very useful preparation in this regard," Negroponte said.
 
The president, making the nomination announcement April 19, said that the career ambassador "has done a really good job of speaking for the United States to the world about our intentions to spread freedom and peace."
 
"John Negroponte is a man of enormous experience and skill. Therefore, I'm comfortable in asking him to serve in this very difficult assignment," Bush said.
 
If confirmed by the Senate, Negroponte would head the largest U.S. embassy in the world with an anticipated staff of over 3,000 employees and would oversee the spending of $18 billion in U.S. aid. He would take over from Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Paul Bremer when sovereignty is returned to Iraq June 30.
 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan is "very comfortable with that appointment," a spokesman for the secretary-general said.
 
Annan "has been working with Ambassador Negroponte a number of years now and holds him in high professional regard," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard. "He looks forward to working with the ambassador in his new capacity in Baghdad. They will have a lot of work to do together."
 
The United Nations is expected to play a greater role in Iraq during the next year, especially relating to the political transition. U.N. special envoy Brahimi is on his way back to U.N. headquarters from Iraq where he met with representatives of a large number of groups in an effort to help the Iraqis form a transitional government to take over July 1. The U.N. elections unit also is working in Iraq and will play a major role in helping the country hold elections by January 2005.
 
If he goes to Iraq, Negroponte will again be working with one of his closest colleagues from the U.N. Security Council, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, who is now the British representative in Baghdad.
 
Negroponte was sworn in as the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations on September 18, 2001, just after the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, and quickly began spearheading efforts in the Security Council to strengthen international efforts against terrorism.
 
Negroponte served for 37 years in the Department of State as a career diplomat. He had eight different assignments abroad including membership in the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam in 1968 through 1969. Negroponte served as ambassador to Honduras, 1981-1985; ambassador to Mexico, 1989-1993; and ambassador to the Philippines, 1993-1996. From 1996 to 1997 he was special negotiator for the post-1999 U.S. presence in Panama.
 
He also served as deputy assistant secretary of state for oceans and fisheries affairs from 1976 through 1979 and was deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs in 1980. President Reagan named Negroponte deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs under General Colin Powell when the future secretary of state was the national security advisor.
 
From 1997 until he was called back to national service by President Bush in 2001, Negroponte was executive vice president for global markets of the McGraw-Hill Companies.
 
In taking the Iraq post, Negroponte will be continuing work on an issue to which he has devoted a major portion of his time during his U.N. tenure.
 
During a Security Council meeting on Iraq April 16, Negroponte reported on the efforts and progress of the multinational force in Iraq and said that the United States has begun to solicit force contributions for the protection of a broad-based U.N. mission in Iraq.
 
Addressing the recent increase in violence in Iraq, the ambassador said: "Let me be very clear: we will stay the course."
 
Negroponte also said that "the United States is committed to working with the international community to ensure that the security needs of the United Nations are met both before and after June 30."
 
"With the support of the United Nations, the United States has begun to solicit force contributions for the protection of a broad-based U.N. mission" whose exact mandate in Iraq will be defined later by the Security Council, he said. The force, which will operate as part of the multinational force (MNF), will be "dedicated solely to providing security for United Nations personnel and facilities."
 
The coalition's commitment to Iraq will continue well beyond June 30, Negroponte said.
 
"The transfer of sovereignty will not bring total calm to Iraq and the MNF will be needed in Iraq to continue to support Iraq's security forces until they can assume sole responsibility for the security and stability of their country," the ambassador said.
 
"In the months to come, we will witness continuing efforts by a new government to further develop institutions of democracy and take on the critical task of preparing elections for the Transitional National Assembly, which will subsequently draft a new constitution. This new government will be challenged by those who are now, and have been, challenging the Iraqi security forces and the MNF -- those who believe that the indiscriminate targeting of the Iraqi people and the international community will erode our shared resolve to see Iraq through a successful political transition," Negroponte said.
 
"But together, with our partners in the international community and the Iraqi people, we will continue to stand fast, anchored by the vision of a stable and secure Iraq, at peace with its peoples and its neighbors," the ambassador said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)